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This is an interesting twist when it comes to Nord Stream-2 and other Gasprom’s international gas projects. It is a very good idea for Germany and other EU countries to secure their quantities of the Russian gas now, while it’s available. Russia may be redirecting some of her natural gas to China and Asia, and even the US is now buying Russian LNG gas. Since last year several tankers already quietly delivered Russian gas to the USA’s East Coast, and more are expected. Imagine the paradox: this is happening despite all of USA’s muscle flexing in regards to EU/Germany, so they would buy the fracking LNG gas from the US, instead of Russian gas through Nord Stream-2. This, of course, is a typical geopolitical intimidation, so that EU/Germany toe the line the US wants.

But there is another competitor to foreign consumers of the Russian natural gas, and it is Russia’s own domestic gas market. The most spread out and the largest northern country in the world, with areas where it was impractical to provide gasification, now such untapped internal gas markets are set to begin developing.

Gasification plans are being drawn in Russia, quietly for now. In the next several years we’ll see a growth of Russian domestic natural gas consumption. When the explosion happens, it may be a very different energy spread.

One interesting signal was given by Putin during his latest Annual Q&A. Replying to a question, he said that Russia is best positioned to develop the new types of energy based on natural gas, instead of oil. This includes the cars running on gas, instead of oil or electricity. Natural gas is much cleaner and better for the environment than oil (unless it is extracted through the harmful chemicalized, invasive fracking process, as it is done in the US, but not in Russia).